Brunnhilde was killed in battle just before Loki's destruction of Asgard[3], but Samantha Parrington still lives.

On Earth, Pluto and Lorelei restored the Valkyrie's powers within Samantha Parrington. Pluto tricked Lorelei though, erasing her memory, draining her powers and turning her into a duplicate of Valkyrie. While Samantha was used by Pluto to turn Earth into a realm of the dead, Lorelei was found by the Defender Nighthawk, who believed she was the real Valkyrie and made her a Defender, though she never spoke. When the Defenders tried to stop Pluto, Lorelei battled Samantha and was restored to her former self. Samantha was freed from Pluto's control and she became part of the Defenders again as Valkyrie. Much to Parrington's chagrin, her parents are proud of her and turned their mansion into the Defenders base.

After Civil War, Parrington is recruited as part of the Initiative and training at the Stamford, Connecticut facility amongst the other trainees.

Samantha Parrington can change from her mortal form into a copy of Brunnhilde's with all the latter's powers and skills.

Weapons and equipment

Valkyrie carries two weapons of choice.

* An enchanted sword named Dragonfang. An Oriental wizard named Kahji-Da was said to have carved the sword from a tooth of an extra-dimensional dragon. The sword eventually passed into the possession of the Ancient One, who in turn gave it to his disciple Doctor Strange. Strange awarded it to the Valkyrie after she had returned the Black Knight's Ebony Blade, which she had been using, to its rightful owner. The sword is virtually indestructible. * An unnamed iron spear (presumably magical).

Valkyrie rides a winged horse by the name of Aragorn. Aragorn was given to her by the current Black Knight.[4]

Ultimate Valkyrie is a 19-year-old girl who aspires to play the public role of super hero, despite having no actual powers or skills (she describes herself as a female Thor, only without the hammer, strength or weather-powers). She is a member of the Ultimate version of the Defenders, a group of similarly delusional, somewhat farcical individuals. To date, her closest encounter with any sort of superhero or villain was her brief affair with Hank Pym, Giant Man/Ant Man. She also has a superhero fetish, asking Pym to dress up as Captain America.

In Ultimate Saga, when Tony Stark is looking through S.H.I.E.L.D files he sees a picture of the Defenders and Valkyrie. He says that he has to keep an eye on her for more than one reason.

Valkyrie next appears in Ultimates 3 #1, now riding a black Pegasus and wielding a large sword that she uses to cleave Venom nearly in two. She is in a romantic live-in relationship with Thor. Since her last appearance, she appears to have been granted super strength and limited invulnerability; other superhuman attributes and abilities remain unknown. She speaks with a distinct valley girl accent, and makes references to having lived a quiet normal human life. However, she suggests she is more akin to Thor than it may seem. Her deepest fear is returning to the powerless, somewhat comical existence she had before. When confronted with this fear by the illusion-casting Mastermind, she is broken free of the illusion by a shadowy figure who claims to be the source of her new powers; she then retaliates by killing Mastermind and dismembering his partner Pyro at the wrists.[5]

She later attacks Magneto, trying to receive Thor's hammer and he uses his powers to slit her throat. She is briefly shown, still alive, until Magneto collapses the ceiling on her. She has not been seen since. [6]

* Valkyrie will appear in the The Super Hero Squad Show TV series voiced by Michelle Trachtenberg.[7]

Film

* The Brunnhilde version of Valkyrie appears in the "Hulk Vs. Thor" segment of the Hulk Vs. DVD. She and her Valkyrior troops defend Asgard from an attack by the Hulk, who had separated from Bruce Banner by Loki.

* Valkyrie appears as an NPC in the video game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. She has a special dialogue with Deadpool and expresses an attraction to him due to his connection with Death and his sense of humor. Deadpool does not share her feelings though due to a policy against dating people who could "strike him dead", but she just thought it was funny. She seems disgusted by Weasel, Deadpool's friend who won't stop staring at her. Deadpool informs her that Weasel always reacts to attractive women that way, which is why he hasn't had a date since his cousin took him to the prom. In the game, there is an optional mission to find Valkyrie's sword Dragonfang somewhere in the god's graveyard near Bifrost Bridge. If the player finds her sword, Asgard will be easily freed with her aid, Loki will be imprisoned in chains, and Ragnarok never comes to pass. If the player doesn't find her sword, Valkyrie will die in the battle to prevent Ragnarok, Balder will die trying to save her, and the people of Asgard will be forbidden to contact Earth for a century. On a side note, she will recall Odin to Asgard to recover if he's freed from his dark magic confinement in Castle Doom.

* As stated above, Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie is based on the character of the same name in the Nibelungenlied. The story however had many incarnations; Richard Wagner's opera version of it (Der Ring des Nibelungen) shows a Brunnhilde the character's creators most likely have used for the conception of the Marvel persona (and, in fact, Marvel's free adaptation of Wagner's opera in Thor #296 features Marvel's Brunnhilde in that role, with Marvel's Thor as Siegmund). * When Thor went insane with warrior madness, his insanity manifested as a woman, also called the Valkyrie. This Valkyrie had no relation to the regular Valkyries and had a different appearance.